Attenuation of peak ground accelerations from the great Wenchuan earthquake

Over 800 accelerograms recorded by 272 ground-level stations during the Wenchuan earthquake are used to analyze the influence of rupture distance, local site conditions and azimuth on peak ground accelerations （PGAs）. To achieve a better understanding of the characteristics of ground motions, the spatial distributions of the EW, NS and UD components of PGAs are obtained. Comparisons between the EW and NS components, the fault-normal and fault-parallel components, and the vertical and horizontal components of PGAs are performed, and the regression formula of the vertical-to-horizontal ratio of PGAs is developed. The attenuation relationship of peak horizontal accelerations （PHAs） is compared with several contemporary attenuation relationships. In addition, an analysis of residuals is conducted to identify the potential effects of rupture distance, azimuth and site conditions on the observed values of PHAs. The analysis focuses on medium-hard soil site conditions, as they provided most of the data used in this study.

Probabilistic seismic hazard assessment of Kazakhstan and Almaty city in peak ground accelerations

As for many post-soviet countries, Kazakhstan’s building code for seismic design was based on a deterministic approach. Recently, Kazakhstan seismologists are engaged to adapt the PSHA(probabilistic hazard assessment) procedure to the large amount of available geological, geophysical and tectonic Kazakh data and to meet standard requirements for the Eurocode 8. The new procedure has been used within National projects to develop the Probabilistic GSZ(General Seismic Zoning) maps of the Kazakhstan territory and the SMZ(Probabilistic Seismic Microzoning) maps of Almaty city. They agree with the seismic design principles of Eurocode 8 and are expressed in terms of not only seismic intensity,but also engineering parameters(peak ground acceleration PGA). The whole packet of maps has been developed by the Institute of Seismology, together with other Kazakhstan Institutions. Our group was responsible for making analysis in PGA. The GSZ maps and hazard assessment maps for SMZ in terms of PGA for return periods 475 and 2475 years are considered in the article.

Prediction of peak ground acceleration of Iran's tectonic regions using a hybrid soft computing technique

A new model is derived to predict the peak ground acceleration（PGA） utilizing a hybrid method coupling artificial neural network（ANN） and simulated annealing（SA）, called SA-ANN. The proposed model relates PGA to earthquake source to site distance, earthquake magnitude, average shear-wave velocity,faulting mechanisms, and focal depth. A database of strong ground-motion recordings of 36 earthquakes,which happened in Iran’s tectonic regions, is used to establish the model. For more validity verification,the SA-ANN model is employed to predict the PGA of a part of the database beyond the training data domain. The proposed SA-ANN model is compared with the simple ANN in addition to 10 well-known models proposed in the literature. The proposed model performance is superior to the single ANN and other existing attenuation models. The SA-ANN model is highly correlated to the actual records（R=0.835 and r =0.0908） and it is subsequently converted into a tractable design equation.

Amplification Effect of Peak Ground Motion Acceleration in ClassⅡ and Ⅲ Sites over Shandong Province

In this paper, the amplification factor （ks ） of peek ground motion with different exceedance probability in class Ⅱ and Ⅲ sites over Shandong Province was estimated by analyzing the seismic response data of soil layers collected from 358 boreholes of class Ⅱ sites and 140 boreholes of class Ⅲ site. From the results, one can conclude that： （1） The scatter plot of ks generally obeys a normal distribution ; （2） ks decreases with the increase of the strength of input ground motion, which is more apparent in Class Ⅲ site than in class lI site; （3） for class Ⅱ site, with the increase of depth of the bedrock interface where ground motion inputs, ks increases gradually until to a stable value when the depth reaches up to approximately 20 meters or larger. Yet, for class Ⅲ site, ks is insensitive to the depth; （4） the average of ks for class Ⅱ site is 1.47, slightly larger than that used in the Seismic Ground Motion Parameters Zonation Map of China （ GB 18306-2001 ）. Also, ks in class Ⅱ and Ⅲ sites at different levels of peak ground acceleration over Shandong Province is preliminarily discussed in the paper.

Direct use of peak ground motion parameters for the estimation of inelastic displacement ratio of SDOF systems subjected to repeated far fault ground motions

This study is aimed at developing statistical equations to estimate the inelastic displacement ratio of singledegree-of-freedom systems subjected to far fault repeated earthquakes. In the study, peak ground motion parameters are used to define the scatter of the original data. The ratio of peak ground acceleration to peak ground velocity, and peak ground velocity of the ground motion records and structural parameters such as period of vibration and lateral strength ratio are used in the proposed equations. For the development of the equations, nonlinear time history analyses of single-degree-offreedom systems are conducted. Then, the results are used in a multivariate regression procedure. The equations are verified by comparing the estimated results with the calculated results. The average error and coefficient of variation of the proposed equations are presented. The analyses results revealed that the direct use of peak ground motion parameters for the estimation of inelastic displacement ratio significantly reduced the scatter in the original data and yielded accurate results. From the comparative results it is also observed that results obtained using equations specific to peak ground velocity or peak ground acceleration to peak ground velocity ratio are similar.

Effect of seismic super-shear rupture on the directivity of ground motion acceleration

The effect of seismic super-shear rupture on the directivity of ground motions using simulated accelerations of a vertical strike-slip fault model is the topic of this study. The discrete wave number/finite element method was adopted to calculate the ground motion in the horizontal layered half space. An analysis of peak ground acceleration （PGA） indicates that similar to the sub-shear situation, directivity also exists in the super-shear situation. However, there are some differences as tbllows： （1） The PGA of the fault-normal component decreases with super-shear velocity, and the areas that were significantly affected by directivity in the PGA field changed from a cone-shaped region in the forward direction in a sub-shear situation to a limited near-fault region in a super-shear situation. （2） The PGA of the fault-parallel and vertical component is not as sensitive as the fault-normal component to the increasing super-shear velocity. （3） The PGA of the fault-normal component is not always greater than the fault-parallel component when the rupture velocity exceeds the shear wave velocity.

Comparison of the cumulative absolute velocity and acceleration peak value based on Wenchuan earthquake data

This paper discusses and presents the cumulative absolute velocity （CAV） parameters of the Wenchuan earthquake. Additionally, the CAV calculated from recorded data for the earthquake is compared to the peak ground acceleration（PGA）, based on a brief analysis of background information. Accordingly, the paper studied the relationship between the CAV and PGA, and 3 CAV/PGA ratio charts were obtained in three different sub-directions. Linear and polynomial fitting operations were then used to analyze the potential discipline and characteristics in these directions. Finally, in the study, we investigated the applicability of using the CAV parameter for earthquake observation systems, and the CAV parameter was paired with the currently used PGA to provide earthquake observers and emergency responders with a theoretical basis.

A new empirical equation of shear wave velocity to predict the different peak surface accelerations for Jakarta city

Site condition and bedrock depth play important roles in the determination of peak surface acceleration(PSA)values by earthquake motions.The soil parameters of shear wave velocity(Vs)and standard penetration test-number(N)value for Jakarta city are available up to 100 m below the Earth’s surface even though the typical depths to bedrock are in excess of 100 m.This study referred to the base motion peak ground acceleration(PGA)values of 0.100 g,0.218 g and 0.378 g to predict the PSA values using the Nonlinear Earthquake site Response Analysis(NERA)to analyse a simulated dataset for the bedrock depths of 100 m,200 m,300 m,400 m and 500 m with conditioned by clayey and sandy soils.A new empirical equation of Vs=102.48 N0.297(m/s)was proposed to calculate the values of Vsused as an input parameter in the NERA programme for the prediction of seismic wave propagation.The results showed that the PSA values are dependent on the amplitude of seismic waves,depths of bedrock and the local site conditions.Changes in the PSA values from 41.0%to 51.5%and from 46.1%to 79.8%for the bedrocks overlain by sand,from 20.0%to 42.1%and from 45.9%to 58.8%for the bedrocks overlain by clay with increasing of bedrock depths from 200 m to 300 m and from 400 m to 500 m,respectively,were predicted for a 2500-year return period earthquake.Decreases in the PSA values by 41.0%,51.5%,46.1%,79.8%for the bedrocks overlain by sand and by 20.0%,42.1%,45.9%,58.8%for the bedrocks overlain by clay were predicted for a 2500-year return period earthquake due to the bedrock depth changes of 200 m,300 m,400 m,500 m.Large-magnitude earthquake of Jakarta city has a significant effect on an increase or a decrease of the PSA value with depth of bedrock and may cause the vibration damage to buildings and other constructions on the ground.The analysis of the PSA value and PSA ratio influenced by the PGA value,bedrock depth and local soil conditions will make a contribution to the design of earthquake-safe building for Jakarta city in the future.

顺倾及反倾层状碎裂结构斜坡地震反应的大型振动台试验研究

西南艰险山区分布着大量的不同倾向的层状碎裂结构斜坡,地震作用下极易发生崩塌、滑坡等灾害,对在建的川藏铁路造成严重威胁。通过大型振动台模型试验,研究了强震条件下顺倾、反倾层状碎裂结构斜坡的动力响应、失稳破坏模式以及能量传递规律。试验结果表明:反倾斜坡的抗震性能显著优于顺倾斜坡;顺倾斜坡的破坏模式主要为拉裂-剪切-隆起-滑移型破坏,反倾斜坡的破坏模式主要为拉伸-弯曲-倾倒-崩塌型破坏;反倾斜坡的自振频率高于顺倾斜坡,顺倾斜坡的自振频率随震级的增加而逐渐降低,而反倾斜坡的自振频率在地震波幅值为0.4g~0.7g时出现反复震荡现象;顺倾斜坡存在明显的高程放大效应和趋表效应,反倾斜坡存在高程放大效应,其内部的加速度响应大于坡表。边际谱识别显示:顺倾斜坡的边际谱幅值(peak of marginal spectrum amplitude,简称PMSA)突变在坡腰上部最显著,说明该位置附近地震波的能量损失最大,反映出顺倾斜坡在坡腰上部附近形成了滑动破坏面;反倾斜坡的PMSA在坡肩处降低得最为显著,反映出坡肩部位损伤最为严重,易发生局部崩塌破坏。分析结果与试验现象能够较好地吻合,进一步揭示了不同结构类型层状碎裂结构斜坡在强震作用下的动力响应与失稳破坏模式,为川藏铁路的安全建设提供了依据。

Aseismic performances of constrained damping lining structures made of rubber-sand-concrete

Flexible damping technology considering aseismic materials and aseismic structures seems be a good solution for engineering structures.In this study,a constrained damping structure for underground tunnel lining,using a rubber-sand-concrete(RSC)as the aseismic material,is proposed.The aseismic performances of constrained damping structure were investigated by a series of hammer impact tests.The damping layer thickness and shape effects on the aseismic performance such as effective duration and acceleration amplitude of time-domain analysis,composite loss factor and damping ratio of the transfer function analysis,and total vibration level of octave spectrum analysis were discussed.The hammer impact tests revealed that the relationship between the aseismic performance and damping layer thickness was not linear,and that the hollow damping layer had a better aseismic performance than the flat damping layer one.The aseismic performances of constrained damping structure under different seismicity magnitudes and geological conditions were investigated.The effects of the peak ground acceleration(PGA)and tunnel overburden depth on the aseismic performances such as the maximum principal stress and equivalent plastic strain(PEEQ)were discussed.The numerical results show the constrained damping structure proposed in this paper has a good aseismic performance,with PGA in the range(0.2-1.2)g and tunnel overburden depth in the range of 0-300 m.

Detailed seismic zoning of the East Kazakhstan region in the Republic of Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan is currently drafting new construction regulations that comply with the major provisions of the Eurocodes.Such regulations are created on the basis of seismic zoning maps of various degrees of detail,developed by our Institute of Seismology using a new methodological approach for Kazakhstan.The article is about creating the first normative map of the Detailed Seismic Zoning on a probabilistic foundation for the Republic of Kazakhstan’s East Kazakhstan region.We carried out the probabilistic assessment of seismic hazard using a methodology consistent with the main provisions of Eurocode 8and updated compared with that used in developing maps of Kazakhstan’s General Seismic Zoning and seismic microzoning of Almaty.The most thorough and current data accessible for the area under consideration were combined with contemporary analytical techniques.Updates have been done to not only the databases being used but also the way seismic sources were shown,including active faults now.On a scale of 1:1000000,precise seismic zoning maps of the East Kazakhstan region were created for two probabilities of exceedance:10%and 2%in 50 years in terms of peak ground accelerations and macroseismic intensities.The obtained seismic hazard distribution is generally consistent with the General Seismic Zoning of Kazakhstan’s previous findings.However,because active faults were included and a thoroughly revised catalog was used,there are more pronounced zones of increased danger along the fault in the western part of the region.In the west of the territory,acceleration values also increased due to a more accurate consideration of seismotectonic conditions.Zoning maps are the basis for developing new state building regulations of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

Vertical-to-horizontal response spectral ratio for offshore ground motions:Analysis and simplified design equation

In order to study the differences in vertical component between onshore and offshore motions,the vertical-to-horizontal peak ground acceleration ratio(V/H PGA ratio) and vertical-to-horizontal response spectral ratio(V/H) were investigated using the ground motion recordings from the K-NET network and the seafloor earthquake measuring system(SEMS).The results indicate that the vertical component of offshore motions is lower than that of onshore motions.The V/H PGA ratio of acceleration time histories at offshore stations is about 50%of the ratio at onshore stations.The V/H for offshore ground motions is lower than that for onshore motions,especially for periods less than 0.8 s.Furthermore,based on the results in statistical analysis for offshore recordings in the K-NET,the simplified V/H design equations for offshore motions in minor and moderate earthquakes are proposed for seismic analysis of offshore structures.

Relationships between ground motion parameters and landslides induced by Wenchuan earthquake

The MS8.0 Wenchuan earthquake induced severe landslide hazards.For the first time in China,large numbers of strong motion records were obtained during the Wenchuan earthquake,providing the opportunity to study the relationships between ground-motion parameters and the earthquake-induced landslides.Nearly 40 groups of records from the main shock distributed along the Longmenshan fault lines were used to carry out this study.The results appropriate to the Longmenshan area are as follows：1 The threshold of the peak ground acceleration（PGA） is about 0.7 m/s2.When the PGA reaches 2 m/s2,the landslide hazards are very serious; 2 The threshold of the peak ground velocity（PGV） is about 0.5 m/s.When the PGV reaches 1.5 m/s,severe landslide hazards will be induced; 3 The threshold for the Arias intensity（Ia） is about 0.2 m/s.When the Ia in one horizontal direction reaches 2 m/s,landslide hazards will be very serious; 4 As for the relevance order of the parameters to earthquake-induced landslides,Ia is the leading parameter,followed by PGV,and finally PGA.The results presented in this paper are consistent with the results from other studies,indicating that the threshold of the ground motion parameters for strong earthquakes is of the same order of magnitude as that of moderate earthquakes.Landslide density of local sites fluctuated with the increase of ground motion intensity if the thresholds were reached.When the upper limits are exceeded,the landslide density remains at a certain level with relatively little variation.

Ground motion attenuation relations of small and moderate earthquakes in Sichuan region

On the basis of 10935 broadband velocity records of 135 earthquakes （ML3.0-6.4 and epicentral distance of 26-623 km） occurred from May 12 to June l0 in 2008, which are collected from 27 bedrock stations included in Sichuan Earthquake Monitoring Network, the corresponding acceleration records are obtained by a real-time simulation method. Then by regression analysis on the data, the relation between the peak ground acceleration and velocity attenuation of small and moderate bedrock earthquakes occurred in Sichuan region is acquired. And the relation is verified by a M4.8 earthquake took place recently in Wenchuan. Finally, the attenuation relations, which are coincident to the geological conditions in Sichuan region, are proposed by studying the records from Sichuan earthquake network.

Ground motion attenuation relation for small to moderate earthquakes in Fujian region, China

We collect 1974 broad-band velocity records of 94 earthquakes (ML=2.84.9, △=13462 km) from seven stations of the Fujian Seismic Network from March 1999 to March 2007. Using real-time simulation, we obtain the corresponding acceleration and then adopt different models to analyze the seismic data. As a result, a new attenuation relationship between PGA and PGV of the small and moderate earthquakes on bedrock site in Fujian region is established. The Yongchun earthquake occurred recently verifies the attenuation relationship well. This paper provides a new approach for studying the ground motion attenuation relationship using velocity records.

Generating ground motion by two new techniques of adding harmonic wave in the time domain and approximating to response spectrum as a whole

In this paper,two new methods are introduced to fit response spectrum in generating earthquake acceleration time history.The first method is Adding Harmonic Wave in Time Domain(AHWTD).In this method, a control point of response spectrum is adjusted by adding a harmonic time history to the adjusted one.Three features of the method are that it has small cross interference,small amount of computation and it can give consideration to the amplitude envelope.The second one is Approximating Response Spectrum as a Whole(ARSW).This method has following feature. When adjust a time history that is decided by amplitude spectrum A k and phase spectrum φ k(k =0, 1, 2, …, n ), the mean square root of every relative error E j(j= 1, 2, …, M ) between response spectrum and object spectrum V r=∑Mj=1E 2 j/M is used to decide adjusting direction of any amplitude spectrum A k . Because E j and V r are functions of A k and φ k , the problem of fitting response spectrum in generating earthquake acceleration time history can be changed to a problem of finding minimum point of V r . Restricted by Nyquist frequency, AHWTD is not suitable for high frequencies of response spectrum. Restricted by frequency distribution of FFT, the density of control points in the low frequency part can′t be too dense for ARSW. But two methods can replenish each other and get such a good fitting effect that we can fit the given peak ground acceleration and peak ground velocity well at the same time.

Effect of Shear Wave Velocity on the Ground Motion Parameters of Site Surface

Based on the data from typical sites in the Jianghuai region,many kinds of soil layer seismic response are modeled by increasing and decreasing the measured values of shear velocity to a certain scale. The seismic response of soil layer sites are calculated using the one-dimensional equivalent linear method in the frequency domain by choosing the Taft,Kobe and El-centro records as the ground motion input. The results show that the impact of shear velocity variability on the surface ground motion is in relation to the soil layer structure and ground motion input parameters such as amplitude and spectral characteristic. With the increase of shear velocity,the PGA( peak ground acceleration)on the surface of site will increase,however,the characteristic period of the acceleration response spectra is decreasing.

Observations on the application of artificial neural network to predicting ground motion measures

Application of the artificial neural network （ANN） to predict pseudospectral acceleration or peak ground acceleration is explored in the study. The training of ANN model is carried out using feed-forward backpropagation method and about 600 records from 39 California earthquakes. The statistics of the residuals or modeling error for the trained ANN-based models are almost the same as those for the parametric ground motion prediction equations, derived through regression analysis; the residual or modeling error can be modeled as a normal variate. The similarity and differences between the predictions by these two approaches are shown. The trained ANN-based models, however, are not robust because the models with almost identical mean square errors do not always lead to the same predictions. This undesirable behaviour for predicting the ground motion measures has not been shown or discussed in the literature; the presented results, at least, serve to raise questions and caution on this problem. A practical approach to ameliorate this problem, perhaps, is to consider several trained ANN models, and to take the average of the predicted values from the trained ANN models as the predicted ground motion measure.

Development of attenuation relation for the near fault ground motion from the characteristic earthquake

A composite source model has been used to simulate a broadband strong ground motion with an associated fault rupture process. A scenario earthquake fault model has been used to generate 1 000 earthquake events with a magni- tude of MwS.0. The simulated results show that, for the characteristic event with a strike-slip faulting, the character- istics of near fault ground motion is strongly dependent on the rupture directivity. If the distance between the sites and fault was given, the ground motion in the forward direction （Site A） is much larger than that in the backward direction （Site C） and that close to the fault （Site B）. The SH waves radiated from the fault, which corresponds to the fault-normal component plays a key role in the ground motion amplification. Corresponding to the sites A, B, and C, the statistical analysis shows that the ratio of their aPG is 2.15：1.5：1 and their standard deviations are about 0.12, 0.11 and 0.13, respectively. If these results are applied in the current probabilistic seismic hazard analysis （PSHA）, then, for the lower annual frequency of exceedance of peak ground acceleration, the predicted aPG from the hazard curve could reduce by 30% or more compared with the current PSHA model used in the developing of seismic hazard map in the USA. Therefore, with a consideration of near fault ground motion caused by the rupture directivity, the re- gression model used in the development of the regional attenuation relation should be modified accordingly.

Ground motion prediction equations based on shallow crustal earthquakes in Georgia and the surrounding Caucasus

Strong ground motions caused by earthquakes with magnitudes ranging from 3.5 to 6.9 and hypocentral distances of up to 300km were recorded by local broadband stations and three-component accelerograms within Georgia’s enhanced digital seismic network.Such data mixing is particularly effective in areas where strong ground motion data are lacking.The data were used to produce models based on ground-motion prediction equations(GMPEs),one benefit of which is that they take into consideration information from waveforms across a wide range of frequencies.In this study,models were developed to predict ground motions for peak ground acceleration and 5%-damped pseudo-absolute-acceleration spectra for periods between 0.01 and 10 s.Short-period ground motions decayed faster than long-period motions,though decay was still in the order of approximately 1/r.Faulting mechanisms and local soil conditions greatly influence GMPEs.The spectral acceleration(SA)of thrust faults was higher than that for either strike-slip or normal faults but the influence of strike-slip faulting on SA was slightly greater than that for normal faults.Soft soils also caused significantly more amplification than rocky sites.